


Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann (Somehow, somewhere, sometime)

by verymuchageek



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Brief Mention of Blood, Confessions, First Kiss, Fluff, I wrote this instead of aftually cleaning my room, Love Confessions, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, just two guys being dorks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:15:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28846629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verymuchageek/pseuds/verymuchageek
Summary: "This is it."Todd stared at his reflection in the mirror and ran a hand through his rather greasy hair. His apartment was a mess; his kitchen was flooded with dirty dishes and half empty pizza boxes, his living room floor was buried under worn, ripped and probably blood-stained sweaters from the last case and empty cans of beer were scattered around the entire apartment."This has to change immediately."OR:Todd gets out of a depression low, listens to an old song and cleans up. Dirk walks in on him singing.
Relationships: Todd Brotzman/Dirk Gently
Comments: 9
Kudos: 30





	Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann (Somehow, somewhere, sometime)

**Author's Note:**

> Got the idea to write a short, fluffy thing after listening to the song "irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann" by Nena (you can listen to the song here: https://youtu.be/oMHLkcc9I9c )
> 
> Translations to the quoted lyrics are in the [...] right under the lyrics. 
> 
> English isn't my first language, so please let me know if you find any mistakes :) 
> 
> Enjoy!

_"This is it."_  
  
Todd stared at his reflection in the mirror and ran a hand through his rather greasy hair. Admittedly, he had let himself go after he, Dirk and Farah and solved the case of the murder axolotl army a few days prior. He was still not over most of the things he went through in that case. His apartment was a mess; his kitchen was flooded with dirty dishes and half empty pizza boxes, his living room floor was buried under worn, ripped and probably blood-stained sweaters from the last case and empty cans of beer were scattered around the entire apartment.  
  
_"This has to change immediately."_  
  
With that thought, Todd pulled his old Mexican Funeral shirt, on which he had drooled on overnight over his head, stumbled ungracefully out of his boxers and stepped into the shower.  
  
~~~~~  
  
Soon enough, Todd stood in the middle of his apartment, his hair still wet, thinking about the amount of work it would take to clean up, hands resting on his hips. He dug for the remote for his TV in a pile of pillows on his couch he had bought a few weeks ago after Dirk complained of back pain after crashing on Todd's couch. He turned on the TV and chose a random music channel. He would have listened to one of his favourite albums if he had been able to locate any of them in the chaos.  
  
The last few notes of some Prince song filled his dark, smelly apartment. Todd quickly opened the curtains and tore open his windows, the fresh air waking him instantly, as the first few sounds of something vaguely familiar crept into his ears. Todd knew he had heard this song before, he just couldn't remember which song it was or where he had heard it.  
  
_Im Sturz durch Raum und Zeit_  
_Richtung Unendlichkeit_  
_[_ _We fall through space and time, the direction is sublime.]_  
  
And there it was. A bunch of memories from highschool punched their way back into Todd's mind. This was one of the songs he had analysed in one of his German classes, then secretly listened to for nights on end. Secretly, because he didn't want any of his friends to know he listened to other things than pop punk.  
  
_Fliegen Motten in das Licht_  
_Genau wie du und ich_  
_[_ _Moths fly into the light, the same as you and I.]_  
  
The beat started to get to Todd, he started picking up the dirty clothes from the floor and threw them into a basket specifically designed to contain his worn clothes (which it only did on rare occasions. The floor was the quicker and easier solution to Todd's clothing problem), softly humming along to the song.  
  
Just during the next few lines, Todd managed to clean his entire floor of clothes, trash and other random items that found themselves in places they didn't belong. He fully sang along to the song too. It may had been over fifteen years since he last heard the song, but the lyrics were still embedded into his mind as if he had just looked them up yesterday. With every line he sang he felt as if he understood a meaning in the lyrics he hadn't heard back when he was a teenager. Todd constantly found himself thinking of his adventures with Dirk, his calm moments with Dirk - just Dirk.  
  
_Irgendwie fängt irgendwann_  
_Irgendwo die Zukunft an_  
_Ich warte nicht mehr lang._  
_[Somehow, the future starts somewhere. I won't put it off for long]_  
  
The beat carried Todd through his apartment into his kitchen. What looked frightening before now felt like a nice challenge for Todd to beat. The old pizza wandered right into the trash, followed by all the old food that had already attracted tiny flies.  
  
_Liebe wird aus Mut gemacht_  
_Denk nicht lange nach_  
_[_ _Love is made out of bravery_  
_Don't think for too long]_  
  
Once the mess had started to dissappear in some places, Todd felt as if he finally could breathe again. He hadn't noticed how much of a burden the state of his apartment was for him for the past few days. _"I'm sure Dirk is going to be proud once he sees the clean apartment.",_ he thought.  
  
The last case had shown him once again how important Dirk was to him. Todd had been wanting to tell him about his feelings for him for a while now, but he never found the courage to actually do so. The song was right, he really shouldn't overthink it and put it off for much longer. _"Who knows, maybe we're both going to be dead by next week.",_ Todd thought, stopping dead in his tracks. _"Nope, not thinking about that now."_  
  
The dishes seemed like an easy enough task for Todd, at least as long as he was hyped up by the music. Without wasting any more time, he got to work.   
  
~~~~~  
  
Slowly, Dirk carried himself and three bags of groceries up the stairs, trying his best not to lose anything. On his usual grocery trip, Dirk had a hunch to bring Todd food, so he did exactly that. Neither of the two knew how to cook, but that surely wouldn't stop them from trying (in other words: either Farah or the local fire department would be expecting a call soon).  
  
As he reached the floor Todd's apartment was on, he started to hear a faint, muffled noise. The closer he got to Todd's flat, the sound grew louder. Sounds erupting from Todd's apartment are a common occurance, yet this one was different. No loud, shredded guitar, no loud drums, no edgy singing. This was a lot softer.  
  
Dirk quietly pushed open Todd's broken door (they still hadn't fixed the lock. Whenever they tried, a new case got in the way) and peaked inside, slowly placing the shopping bags on the floor next to him.  
  
To Dirks surprise, Todd was in fact partially causing the noise himself. He was singing along to the song enthusiastically while drying off the clean plates and cups. Dirk didn't understand a single word, but he liked it.  
  
_Gib mir die Hand_  
_Ich bau dir ein Schloss aus Sand_  
_Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann_  
_[_ _Give me your hand; I’ll build you a castle out of sand_  
_Somehow, somewhere, sometime]_  
  
No matter how much Dirk wanted to stay and listen to Todd, the groceries really couldn't stay out in the stuffy, hot summer air for longer. He slowly grabbed the bags and carefully took a step inside Todd's apartment, trying his best not to disturb him.  
  
This worked out a bit too well for him though, because as soon as he tapped on Todd's shoulder, Todd let out a high pitched scream and dropped the clean plate out of shock.  
  
"Holy fucking shit, Dirk! Don't sneak up on me like that!", Todd yelled, one hand on his chest as he leaned back on the counter. Dirk was still processing the shock of Todd's scream and the shattering noise of the plate. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't want to disturb you. I really liked your singing."  
  
Dirk wasn't sure if his mind was playing tricks on him, but he could have sworn that Todd was blushing. "Uh.. thanks? Wait, you went grocery shopping for me?", Todd looked at the three paper bags.  
  
"Yes, I thought we both needed some food that wasn't pizza or instant ramen.", Dirk chuckled. "Why don't you take care of the groceries and I clean up whatever is left of the plate? I mean, I was the one to cause this unfortunate murder." Now Todd was the one to chuckle.  
  
"Isn't it technically manslaughter? I mean, it wasn't premeditated and technically an accident. So as the judge of this situation, I sentence you to community service by cleaning up the crime scene yourself while I take care of the food. You can be lucky the CIA bailed you out of a prison sentence again.", Todd winked playfully at Dirk, who couldn't control his laughter.  
  
"Okay, your honour!"  
  
And just like that, they both went to work on their assigned tasks. Just as Dirk was almost done picking up pieces of the plate, a weird burning sensation started building up in his hand. Somehow he had cut himself on one of said pieces. "Ouch", he mumbled as he watched a bit of blood run down his hand.  
  
Todd turned around and looked at him questioningly until he saw the blood. "Ah shit, are you okay?", he said as he dropped to his knees in front of Dirk, who replied to his question by nodding his head and raising his shoulders in a questioning way.  
  
_Die Zeit ist reif für ein bisschen Zärtlichkeit_  
_Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann._  
_[The time is right for a bit of tenderness tonight. Somehow, somewhere, sometime.]_  
  
Todd went back and forth between staring at Dirk’s hand, which had snuck itself into Todd's, and Dirk's eyes. He hesitated for about a second before thinking _"ah fuck it"_ and slowly leaning in before tenderly pressing a kiss to Dirk's injured hand. Dirk's heart skipped a beat and he inhaled sharply. Partially because the pain that actually started to form in his palm and partially due to Todd's surprisingly soft lips on his hand.  
  
"Let's get that cleaned up."  
  
~~~~~  
  
"That was German, right?", Dirk asked calmy after screaming at Todd for probably five minutes for cleaning his hand with rubbing alcohol. It wasn't Todd's fault, Dirk's screams were directed at the rubbing alcohol that burned even more than the wound itself.  
  
Todd stared at him for a second. "Uh, yes, it was."  
  
"I didn't know you speak German! That's amazing, Todd. Can you say something in German?", Dirk beamed with his usual heart shaped, sunshine radiating smile.  
  
With another sudden burst of courage, Todd looked up at Dirk. "Ich liebe dich.", was all he said, a blush creeping up his neck.  
  
"What... was that?", Dirk asked, slightly intimidated by Todd's gaze which is still fixated on his eyes, yet not physically able to break the eye contact either.  
  
Todd looked down quickly. "I don't think I can translate it. I know what it means, but I don't think I can tell you."  
  
Dirk looked at him questioningly.  
  
"I could.. show you though, if you'd like."  
  
Dirk just nodded slightly, still fixating on Todd.  
  
Todd, who started to come closer. A lot closer, until he could feel Dirk's breath on his face, a hand cupping Dirk's cheek.  
  
Dirk's eyes fluttered shut as Todd pressed his lips onto his. And suddenly, everything felt right.  
  
~~~~~  
  
"I'd like that.", Dirk spoke into Todd's hair that night as they sat cuddled up on the couch in a finally very clean apartment, watching TV.  
  
"What? That vacuum cleaner? Is it still too dusty for you in here?", Todd asked, pointing at the TV which currently displayed an advertisement for a specifically high tech vacuum cleaner.  
  
Dirk chuckled. "No, you did a great job. I'd like you to build a sand castle for me. Like in that song you were singing today."  
  
Todd shuffled around so he was facing Dirk. "You understood that?"  
  
Dirk shook his head. "I looked up the lyrics. I quite like that song now. I thought it was sweet. So, when are we going to the beach?" He said as he pressed another kiss to Todd's lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! You made it through my first story in English! Fun fact: I listened to this song on loop for three hours while writing this story. It's incredibly late, I just want to sleep, formatting was a nightmare and this song is now haunting me. 
> 
> Still, feedback is appreciated :)


End file.
